Eyes in The Dark
by USEChairman
Summary: To the lonely souls of scattered Dark Matter, existence is a prison. Most have only ever experienced the cold grips of empty space and endless time. They know nothing of companionship or love, yet they envy it anyway. So then, when one Dark Matter is given the chance to take its revenge on the universe, it is not a question of if it will accept. The question is, how far will it go?
1. Sight

My people are not born with eyes.

Most of us never experience the heavy thralls of vision, spending instead our eternal existence in crushing darkness. Crushing despair. Crushing loneliness.

We can sense. Smell. Taste the empty space around us as we float aimlessly through the eternal void, nothing more than misshapen masses of fleshy, gooey essence. Only a select few have the patience, the strength, and the sheer willpower to learn how to see.

In my agonizing existence, the eons that I floated the freezing depths of nothingness, I had only heard whispers of this strange concept called sight. Such an idea was foreign and wholly terrifying to my infantile mind. It sounded like nothing more than another avenue for more burning pain to consume my soul, and as such, I avoided the thought as best I could.

No, I had once believed that sight was something only for the Void Lords, those among us whose endless age, boundless wisdom, and infinite power stretched far beyond our own. These were they who sought the ultimate power, spreading their dark tendrils into every corner of the universe and destroying all that could be destroyed.

I had never before encountered one of these great Lords, though I often wondered what would happen if I were to, one day. The things I would learn would be beyond anything I could have ever comprehended, and the power I would be granted would be truly overwhelming.

That is, if they bothered to take the time to notice my existence. Or didn't annihilate me for a quick spurt of amusement.

I had long given up on such a thought though. It usually took eons upon eons for my form to pass close by another of my kind, and even then those encounters would end in an instant. We would meet minds, share the knowledge we had gathered in our respective existences, revel for a moment in the cold grips of temporary companionship, and then part ways without another thought.

Once, when I was far younger, I wondered why none of my people ever formed a union with one another. In my naivety, I had the absurd idea that aimlessly wandering the empty cosmos alongside a companion would help to cure the stabbing pangs of loneliness we all experience every passing moment of our miserable existences.

I was a fool then.

No, I was alone. And for the greater part of my endless existence, I believed that was never going to change.

And even now, I wish it never did.

* * *

When I met him, I believed that it was simply another chance encounter, like the ones that had come before. I sensed his presence before all else, and though I could not yet tell where his form was in relation to my own, I could tell he was as aware of me as I was of him.

Almost instinctively, though cautiously, I sent a questioning thought to him, inquiring who he was and what he wanted. Time passed, and I received no answer, nor a question of his own. However, I sensed no hostility from his presence, so once again, I sent another simple question.

Again, it went unanswered.

I became confused. None of my people had ever before refused a hail after revealing their presence. This stranger was making no effort to hide, so why then was he not communicating with me?

Curiously, I began reaching out a bit farther, trying to see if I could find how far away he was from me, but to my surprise, I could not find him. Again, it was clear that he was making no attempt to hide, so the fact that I could not see where he was could mean only one thing; he was simply too far away. So far away in fact that I had no idea how we could sense one another. It should have been impossible.

Perplexed, I stopped searching and turned my gaze back inwards, only to receive a startling realization.

He was already inside me. Somehow, he had silently slipped past my defenses and infiltrated my thoughts, my memories, my very soul. He was browsing through them all as casually as though they were his own. He seemed to be methodically probing every inch of my mind, as if searching for something.

With a surge of anger at having been violated so, I harshly cast his gaze out and threw up a barrier, separating his inquisitive eye from my innermost secrets. I sensed a momentary touch of surprise coming from the stranger, which admittedly left me feeling somewhat satisfied.

However, not even a second later and long before I had had a chance to prepare, I was suddenly cascaded upon with the most terrible power I had ever experienced, the sheer magnitude and intensity of which caused my physical form to visibly recoil in shock. Within a moment, all of my internal defenses had been absolutely annihilated, and the deepest, most hidden secrets and thoughts in every corner of my mind were laid bare before this stranger.

Never before had I felt so insignificant. It was clear this stranger was far more powerful than I had first predicted. So powerful in fact, that terrifying suspicions began to form at the back of my mind, though I was still doubtful on whether they held any weight or not.

 _Who are you?_ I demanded, some part of me horrified what the answer would be.

At last, the stranger responded, though it wasn't to answer my question. Instead, all he uttered was a single word, a word so frightening, so mysterious, that it left me quivering in fear.

 _See._ He commanded.

Immediately, I felt an tortuous shock of pain deep within me, as though some foreign object had subtly dug itself into the center of my black flesh and was now furiously struggling to emerge. Then, bit by bit, I felt the thing began to expand, slowly, but painfully. I felt the tendons of my essence tearing apart to make way as the thing pushed its way forward, growing, expanding, drawing closer and closer to the surface of my form.

Then, like the peel of an orange, the skin of my flesh flowered open to reveal an off-white, bloodshot orb with a dilated pupil, surrounded by a blood-red iris. For the first time in my eternal existence, I was met with the sight of the endless universe.

And it burned me to my soul.

 _GGGYYYAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHAAAAAA!_ I shrieked and writhed as the blazing heat of a thousand million suns bored into my newborn eyeball, scorching dots onto my tender retina with their abhorrent fury. Desperately, I swung myself around, trying to see if there was a patch of comfortable darkness to point my newfound vision: Somewhere where I wouldn't have to be subjected to that unimaginable agony.

But there were more. Every which way I turned, blazing dots of hateful light stabbed into me, finding passage through that abominable orb that was now my own. I couldn't escape them. They surrounded me on all sides.

I had never before imagined that sight could be so hellishly agonizing. In anguish, I began to plead with the mysterious stranger to take back his wicked gift.

 _TAKE IT AWAY! TAKE IT AWAY!_ I shrieked. _NOW! I DON'T WANT IT! IT HURTS! THEY BURN!_

 _It hurts._ The stranger whispered to me.

 _NOW! DO IT NOW!_

 _They burn us all._

 _I HATE THEM! I HATE THIS!_

 _You want it to stop._

 _NOW NOW NOW!_

 _Serve me. Help me destroy them._

 _I WILL! I SERVE!_

 _You serve._

 _I SERVE!_

As I found myself losing control over myself over the shock of being consumed by so much light, I felt another, far greater power seep into me, filling every last corner of my black form. Slowly, and not of my own command, I began to turn in place, flinching as I was forced to endure more rays of so many blazing stars. There were so many. So many. Why? Why? Why did there have to be so many? Why couldn't I stop seeing them?

I stopped, and suddenly, though my body did not move, my vision began traveling forward. Faster and faster and faster it went, flying past more of the hateful stars; circling around one another, spinning in place, spinning together, all around and around and around while clustered together in spirals and spheres and cones and amorphous blobs (much like myself.)

I hated them all. Every single last one. I would hate them forever.

My vision continued onward, shooting forward at speeds I had never before thought possible. It had already long passed the total distance I believed I had ever before traveled, and yet it continued even farther. Past even more stars. Even more swirling clusters of even more stars. Did they never end?

Very soon, I found myself before an enormous, pulsing mass of dark, writhing essence, floating in the middle of a gaping hole in between the endless cacophony of burning suns. A part of me instinctively tried to move forward to enter the mass in the hopes that it would shield my eyes from the hateful light on all sides, but I quickly remembered that my physical form was not there, and even if it was, I had no control of my movements. I was but a vision, being guided by some power that was of yet still unknown to me.

My sight began moving again, drawing closer to the mass until I finally pierced its skin and wriggled into it, sighing in a thankful relief as my newborn vision was finally shrouded from light in the soft blanket of beautiful blank blackness.

However, even as I reveled in the solace of darkness, I felt myself being pushed ever forward, even deeper into this strange, massive place. It was then that I began to realize I was not alone. There were other things there. Strange, black balls of gooey flesh, counting millions upon millions and each bearing their own bloodshot eyeballs. Swarming, pulsing and convulsing, together they made up that floating amalgamation.

It did not take me long to realize that these creatures were my own people. Even though my mind was a hundred million light years away, I could sense their thoughts, their memories, their fears, their pains, their agony. They were all like me. They too must have been found by whatever power had found me, and were too given an unwanted sight. They were servants, as I now was.

But to who?

I was answered as I came eye-to-eye with my master. At the center of it all, in a massive chamber of swirling blood and black, there was a great, pure-white sphere, a thousand times larger than myself and completely featureless except for a stark, vacant, blood-red eyeball peeking out from beneath the snowy flesh.

The mere sight of this mighty creature left me with no more doubts. I had been graced by the presence of one of the all-powerful Void Lords, and I would never be the same again.

 _Zero._ It whispered into me. _You serve Zero._

 _Why?_ I inquired, my essence quivering in fear and admiration.

 _You are stronger than some. You need purpose._

 _How?_

Zero's eye shifted, and my vision shifted with it. I had no control over myself anymore, however, I felt no shame in being manipulated so. Even then, I had trust in Zero.

With his eye by my side, we exited the artificial black star and entered the burning light of the cosmos once more. I let out another shriek of agony as more starlight burned my baby eyeball, but Zero carried me onward, rightfully ignoring my pleas to return to the darkness.

 _See them._ He commanded me.

 _I don't want to! Take it back! I don't want to see!_

 _See them._

My sight flew ever forward as Zero pushed it on, closer and closer to one of the fiery balls. So close that my vision became completely consumed with a veritable inferno of pain, so very intense that I wished Zero would end my existence then and there.

 _NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! STOP!_

 _See them._

 _I DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM ANYMORE!_

 ** _See them._** Zero hissed, and thrust my vision closer to the blinding fire.

It was then that I saw it. A perfectly round, dark green rock, slowly hovering around the red star as though it were tied to it with an invisible, unbreakable rope. Bit by bit, I found the stabbing torture engulfing my being lessened a little with the growing confusion as to the existence of this strange, little ball. What was it Zero wanted me to see?

 _See them._

I was drawn closer to the ball. Together, Zero and I passed through its outer skin of noxious gas until we reached the rocky, solid surface below.

It was then that I saw them. Little, skittering, things. Crawling around on thin, gangly parts. Down on the... _soil._ Neither flesh nor solid. There were so many. They were unnatural. They disgusted me.

 _Look closer._

They were… _intelligent._ They communicated. They shared memories. They shared pain. They… what?

They shared… I didn't understand. I didn't understand.

 _I don't understand._

 _They play together._

They… worked. They worked together. They shared loneliness. They… stayed together. They… consumed… something. _Matter._

 _They gorge it._

They… stopped moving. They made another. They were multiplying and disappearing.

 _They never stop. Yet they still end._

 _How?_ I inquired, almost begging Zero for an answer.

 _They exist._ _They exist without pain. They exist together. Look._

I looked, and I saw the things. They… _laughed._ They stayed with one another. They fought, but the fights ended quickly. They… they…

 _They aren't alone._

A surge of anger stabbed into my soul. They were not alone. They were… They had...

 _Joy._

The word was spoken with the most pure hatred I had ever heard, so much so that the word alone could not contain it all, and much of the hatred flowed out and poured into my own soul. I hated the word.

 _Joy?_ I asked.

 _They do not suffer._ Zero whispered. _They mock us._

 _They mock us._

I hated them. I hated them. I hated them. Why did they get to live among company? Why were their existences so wonderfully short? Even now, I saw a thousand more end. Why were they not burned by the light? Why were they not burdened with endless pain? Why did the universe hate me so?

 _I hate them._

 ** _End them._**

* * *

In an instant, I felt Zero's influence leave me and I was taken back to my physical form. My eyeball shuddered as I suddenly remembered the trillion lights blazing into it, however, I realized that they weren't bothering me anymore.

No, my thoughts were consumed with images of that disgusting, living matter, scurrying around the colored spheres of rock. For the first time in a thousand eons, I realized that I had a purpose. Lord Zero had given me a purpose. A purpose.

Without hesitation, my eyeball began darting to and fro, searching for another one of these rocky balls that my master had shown me. It was then that I realized that Zero had bestowed upon me another gift: A ring of bright orange spheres jutting out of my flesh. With them orbiting in waves around the surface of my skin, I quickly found that I was no longer a slave to the cruel whims of empty space. I could move.

And so I did.

I quickly found one. Another giant ball, this one shining with an ugly, dark brown hue and orbiting a blinding yellow star. Even from there, I could see the matter things infesting every inch of the surface. More excited than I had ever before been, I sped towards the ugly rock, ready to prove to my Lord that he had not chosen wrong.

Though, despite my excitement, a nagging concern continued to pester the back of my mind. These beings of matter, mocking us with their joy and their companionship; surely they would not be easy to destroy?

Would they?

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _I love Kirby. A lot. So much so that I'm honestly surprised it's taken me so long to write a story based in his universe._

 _But despite that, here I am now, coming up with a crazy idea to try to "humanize" one of the least humanizable villains in Kirby's long past, Dark Matter. I definitely was playing around with a very different writing style than usual this time around (as well as testing my hand at a 1st person perspective again) so I hope it all ended up coming out decent._

 _Now, I would quickly like to mention that I've got a lot of different head-cannons concerning Kirby lore, and a lot of that will end up playing a major role in a few parts of this story. If anyone has any questions, or would just like to discuss anything related to it, send a PM my way, and I'd be more than glad to reciprocate._

 _As of now, I'm not planning on making this a ridiculously long fic, probably about 4-5 chapters at the most, so I should have it finished pretty soon. Though, "soon" does tend to be a very relative term when it comes to me._

 _Anyway, I do hope you all enjoyed this first chapter. Thanks for viewing and reviewing, and I hope to see you all soon._

 _Yours truly, Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman._


	2. Might

My people are not born with power.

Some think of us as gods, beings of a higher plane with infinite might, infinite knowledge, infinite presence.

This isn't true. In the first moments of our conception, we are as fragile as a wisp of smoke drifting through a breeze. Though we certainly have the potential for limitless power, this power is not locked within us, nor do we grow into it. No, our strength comes entirely from the world outside us.

At our core, we are a race of mimickers. We observe the attributes and abilities of others, study them to their every last detail, and then, if we have the capacity to do so, assimilate those powers for our own, and even enhance them if the need arises.

Though we begin as nothing, there is no upper limit to the abilities we can possess, the strengths we can steal, and the concepts we can copy. Even sight, an ability that is in essence a gateway to learn more of our surroundings, had to have first been copied by observing the matter things. Who the earliest to learn this complex and dangerous ability was, even Zero does not know.

It is also possible for us to alter our appearance, morphing our physical forms into the image of something we perceive to be powerful. Whether it be a mighty king, a shining star in the sky, a raging behemoth, a crackling thundercloud; there is nothing we cannot mimic. No power we cannot spoof. No form we cannot take for ourselves.

The only limit that confines us is the capacity of our own, limited cognizance. In many ways, we are blissfully naive. Even the mightiest and oldest Void Lords do not truly understand the vast complexities of the universe, and that which we do not understand is that which can harm us. But the more we learn about this universe that we despise so much, the more power we gain, though this also comes with a cost.

We despise every power we gain. We loathe every ability we learn. We abhor every concept we copy. We hate them. And we hate them because they are not real. They are fake. Cheap imitations. Pretend. Worthless, pointless, nothing. We have nothing that is our own. We are forced to steal and copy and fake everything. Everything we are. We have nothing. We are nothing.

Can you blame me for hating those who have everything?

* * *

I had descended upon the brown planet with a rabid excitement. Despite the disgusting stench of the matter-infested atmosphere and the burning light of its wicked sun, my soul was aflame with a hateful delight. I was about to take the first step on the path of fulfilling my quest, and I had never been so ready and so willing.

The matter things were there when I drew close to the rock's surface, jaunting around their beautiful home with delight and pleasure and happiness. I saw them interacting with one another. Laughing with one another. Playing, loving, living in peace. Enjoying their existences. Mocking me.

Despite my eagerness to begin, I found myself keeping a distance at first, flying high above where the matter things tended to stay. I was so perplexed with the odd movements and the unnatural mannerisms of the matter things that I admit I was afraid to touch them. What if they hurt me more? What if they had some power that Zero had not warned me of?

No. No, Lord Zero would never.

Soon, as I came closer, I realized something odd. The matter things would flee whenever they noticed my presence. Very slowly, as all they could do was to crawl along on their disgusting gangly things, but they fled all the same. They were afraid of me. Were they aware of my plans to destroy them? Perhaps they possessed some form of precognizance? Would Zero have told me of it?

Of course.

I began following one of the matter things with the intent to study it. It was so strange. It's movements were so irrational. It's behavior so erratic. It seemed to be aware of my presence, and as such, it too was attempting to flee from me. Why was it so afraid? Why did they all fear me so? I had given no indication of my intentions. Logically, they should have not even noticed me.

This question continued to burn in the back of my mind, and soon I decided I would have an answer. Tentatively, I attempted to reach into the thing's mind as it cowered from me with the intent to communicate. I had learned of the concept of deception from one of my brethren long ago, and I was confident I could employ it long enough to extract that which I desired.

However, there was no response. The matter thing made no motion that it had even heard me, and for that, I was stunned. These beings were intelligent, were they not? I saw them communicating with one another in my brief observations, so what was stopping me from doing the same? Perhaps they were deafened by their joy.

Yes, that must be it.

Becoming steadily more frustrated, I decided that I would push aside my inhibitions and study the thing closer. I needed to know more. Perhaps physical contact was needed.

I drew close to the thing, and though it attempted to evade me again, I cast my physical essence upon it. Though I shuddered at the disgusting touch of its soft, disturbingly warm flesh, I continued forward, seeping into its body through every open orifice I could find.

The first thing I noticed to my surprise was that the thing was hollow inside, at least, partially. In lieu of a continuous mass of fleshy essence, the thing had a strange assortment of wildly varying sacs and vesicles, all filled with so many disgusting liquids of so many different colors, and strewn about seemingly at random throughout every last inch of its form. Perhaps they were other foreign masses that the thing had found and consumed at some point? Maybe, but I had no sure answer.

Whatever they were, they appeared to be integrated seamlessly within its unnatural flesh, and despite my careful probing, I could find neither logical beginning nor end to any of it.

Briefly forgetting my original intent to try to communicate with the matter thing, I began to idly play around with the various structures, seeing how each would react to my pokes and prods and such. Looking back, I realize how naive and foolish I must have appeared, but I was simply curious.

Curious to discover what they had that we did not.

However, the memory of my mission soon returned to me, and since I still had yet to discern any way to communicate with the being, I withdrew from within the disgustingly warm flesh and reformed into my preferred, spherical shape, initially and wrongly believing that I had learned nothing of worth.

However, as my bloodshot eyeball peeled open once again, I looked down at the matter thing I had just exited in silent wonder. It was no longer trying to flee from me. Did I successfully deceive it into believing me innocent? Perhaps I overestimated their intelligence.

It… was no longer moving. I had seen that happen to other matter things before, from my distant observations. Had I caused that? I must have. But I had done nothing of significance…

No…

Surely it wasn't that simple…

I touched the matter thing again, and it failed to respond. It was no longer moving. Its eyes were no longer seeing. Its soul… was gone.

I blinked in shock, and a strange, electrifying emotion shivered across my flesh. Why? Why?

I had done next to nothing. Why were they so fragile? So insignificant? My people are forced to suffer through countless eternities without so much as a hope for release.

Why did they get to have such blissfully short existences? What had they done to deserve the friends, the comforts, the securities? Why? Did they steal it? Did they take our joy from us? They must have. They had it. And we did not.

Why? What had we done to them? Nothing. We didn't deserve the pain. My pain. I couldn't take it. They had so much, and we had less than nothing. We were less than nothing. They had everything, and why? Why? Why? Why why why why why why **why**?

I found another, and I entered its horrible body the same way I had done before, and once again began prodding and pushing the mysterious sacs within, assuming I would get a similar result if I tried to copy my previous actions. Despite my fury, I did also notice that this thing's sacs bore a striking resemblance to the ones I had observed in the last matter thing's body. I recognized both shape and position in relation to one another, and though I did not yet understand the purpose of it all, I at least had the capacity to know they bore some importance to the matter things.

Some moments later, I exited the body of that matter thing to find that my actions had produced a similar result. The thing was motionless, sightless, soulless. I had found their weakness, and in my excited rage, I was eager to continue exploiting it.

So I did. The more souls I ripped from them, the more rabid I became. Everywhere my eye looked, I saw matter things that existed. Lived. Played. Mocked me with everything I didn't have. I tried to take it from them, yet it slipped from my grasp before it could become mine. I hated them so much. They stole it from me, and refused to give it back! Those cheats, those thieves! It should have been mine! I hated them so much!

I know not how much time passed. So many of the matter things had fallen, yet I counted every one. Every single soul was a steadily growing number on my mind and in the center of my eye's vision. Not enough. Not enough to repay the debt.

I learned much in my time there. I learned that I could take their souls from them without touching them with a bolt of purple energy. I learned how to hide from them. I learned how to frighten them. I learned how much they hated me.

That especially drove my mind to the edge of insanity. They _hated_ me. Me! I was nothing. They had no right, no reason. They shouldn't. Yet they did. It was as if they knew my pain, and gained delight from it. I wasn't surprised. They gained delight from everything. _Everything_! Because they had _everything!_

One by one they fell, over and over and over. Time slipped from my mind, at least until it became more difficult to find them. They could not hide from me. My eye saw them wherever they crawled. Yet I could not find more.

I searched. I crossed places I had been before. I traveled the wide expanse of the vile ball. Once, twice, thrice, four times, ten times, one hundred times, one thousand times. Searching. Finding ten, then five, then one, then none. The star became hotter. The matter in the air became dry and arid. They had fallen. There was nothing left. Not a soul.

I blinked, and a shudder coursed through my essence. Was that it? Had I succeeded? I must have. There was nothing but the light of the star and the grime of the ball itself. Was it mine now?

My eye looked, and I felt despair clench my soul. I didn't want it. The matter burned me. It hurt me. There was nothing to take. No spoils that I could plunder. Everything I wanted was… wait, what had I wanted? Why… why was I here? What had I wanted? What did I want? What do I want? Who…

Lord Zero came to me. Slipped his way back into my mind and seized me with an iron vise. I shrieked as he clutched my soul, tearing rips into it as rightful punishment. I screamed apologies, though I did not know what I was apologizing for. His voice was silent. I needed no explanation.

He took control of my essence, and forced me into the nearby star, plunging me into its deepest depths. Forced my eye open. Forced an infinite hellfire to fill me to the brim, clawing its way through my gaping pupil and digging into my flesh. Tearing me into shreds, groping for my soul. It was just out of its fiery reach, yet it could still feel the heat on the surface. I knew I deserved this. Zero did nothing without reason.

 _I did what you asked…_

An eternity later, Zero released me and I drifted out of the inferno's grasp.

 _Worthless. You endanger us. If they know of us, they can fight us. Some are weak, some are strong. Some can defeat us. Defeat me. Flaunting our presence is a path to failure. Subtlety is our only hope._

 _Why? Who?_

Zero showed me the past as though I was there. I could see, feel, hear everything. I saw my brethren spreading across the universe. Invading, conquering, expanding, destroying. I looked and saw the old Void Lords. So many shapes, so many forms. So powerful. Zero was among them. They spread further and further, taking their due revenge.

But they were stopped. Matter things, strange ones, with strange powers, rose and fought the great lords. They destroyed them, captured them, banished them, scattered them. Boxes, hearts, crowns, mirrors. Stopped them from taking what should have been theirs. Should have been ours.

I saw one, and I found my eye couldn't turn away. One with a flowing cape, a black mask, and a mighty, silver sword. He was among the strange matter things, yet he was above them. He was… great. Powerful. His sword struck down many of my brethren, yet it also defended his own. I soon saw that the matter things followed him wherever he went. He commanded, and they were forced to obey. He had influence over them. How? Did he control their minds? Did he drive them? He must have, yet, maybe not. I was mesmerized.

Even Zero couldn't overcome. I saw a matter thing of incredible strength strike him down and seal him in a golden crown. There he remained, trapped and forced to lend his power to the one who defeated him, a wizard wrapped in sheets of darkness. From his prison, he could influence his captor, but nothing more. And so the both of them were banished.

Only when they encountered one of greater power were his chains loosened. The crown shattered, and a white essence slipped away from the great destruction, more powerful than ever before.

But Zero had learned in his time sealed away. An unrelenting advance breeds an insurmountable opposition. Some powers cannot be overcome directly. Only through subtlety, manipulation, and virulent infection will he achieve my goal.

I understood.

 _Do not fail again._

He left me, and I was left back in the empty expanse of space. My eye turned, and saw nothing but the light of the stars. I must find another. I must not fail Zero again.

Yet, before I began, there was an image I could not stop pondering. The one I saw in Zero's memories. The _swordsman_. The one who seemed so mighty, so great. He commanded, he conquered, he reaped victory. Those around him seemed entrapped by his might, and enslaved to his will. How did he do what he had done? How had he taken exactly what he had wanted? It fascinated me.

Regardless, he was powerful, and I wanted it. Deciding there was but one thing to do, I began to change. Molding my essence into the image of the one I saw. A cape flowed behind me, and a mask covered my open eye. A sword emerged from within me, long and deadly. A mighty weapon. I could not see myself, but I believed that I had evolved into something greater. I was a… a…

A _hero_.

Yes. Yes, the word struck me like a bolt of energy and coursed shivers across my skin. That was what he was. That was what I was. It was almost…

I turned, and looked for another ball. I would descend upon them as a _hero_. Would they praise me as they had the other? They must. They would have no choice.

I was no different from him.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _T_ _his chapter took a while to put out mostly because of a bad case of writer's block. I had written a few versions of it quite a while ago, but I was never really happy with the way they came out, so I ended up scrapping them all. After a few more attempts, I found myself unable to continue the chapter as I had envisioned it, and this story ended up falling by the wayside for a little while because I didn't know what to do with it._

 _Luckily, I recently had a friend of mine read over the rough draft I had and he gave me some excellent advice and some ideas that really helped to bring this story back to life. So, I just wanted to give a massive thanks to Xman797 for helping me out with this chapter. Your assistance was invaluable, and I appreciate it greatly._

 _Anyway, that's all I've got for now. Thanks for viewing and reviewing, and I apologize for the long wait. I'll try my best to continue work on chapter 3, but I'll also say that I have a lot of stories that desperately need finishing, and it may end up that I'll need to work on those for a little bit before I can get to this one. Thank you all for your patience._

Yours truly, Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman.


End file.
